With turbid water flowing out of taps in several homes in north Kolkata, the board chairman of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Firhad Hakim has blamed the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for discharging large cusecs of water that allegedly increase the silt levels in the Ganges from where the city draws its water for consumption through treatment plants.

Residents of several wards in north Kolkata complained that turbid water was flowing from their home taps. Residents in ward 7 in the Baghbazar area complained that it began Sunday onwards. Adjoining areas too had the same woes to report. People expressed their fears concerning possible diarrhoea or cholera outbreak due to the quality of the KMC supplied
water.

With the civic body headquarters being intimated on the matter, KMC officials from the water supply department began their enquiries, a KMC source said, adding that inspection was done at the water treatment plant sites and in supply lines to find any leak.

It was observed that the treatment plants were not being able to function to their full capacity in refining the water drawn from the Ganges. The reason was excess silt. Hakim today held the DVC responsible for the problem. He alleged that the discharge of large cusecs of water by DVC increased the level of silt in the Ganges. He said that treatment plants are not being able to filter to their full capacity due to the same.

Hakim said to resolve this, the KMC will now aim to use the top layer of the Ganges water during high tides to prevent silt from being drawn in by the treatment plant. He said the black colour of the water is due to the stir caused in the Ganges by the massive water discharge by DVC that unsettled the silt in the river. This has not just caused problems here but also in the adjoining states, Hakim observed.

To allay fears of an epidemic, Hakim said, “Situation will normalize by Wednesday. I would advise people not  to use the water early morning for the next two days and instead use it later in the day when freshwater will be available.” He assured that the water can be used for drinking.

He also but pointed that since the treatment plants would be drawing lesser water from the Ganges to keep out silt, the water supply pressure to taps will be low till Wednesday.